Sunny and 75 degrees in Alaska

I landed in Boston on Wednesday around 6 pm, then left for Anchorage Thursday morning at 7:45. I spent Thursday night in Anchorage and flew to King Salmon on Friday morning. King Salmon is a small fishing community on the Naknek River connected by road only to Naknek, where the river flows into the ocean. They call it the Red Salmon capital of the world- the salmon runs up the river in late June-July and these two towns go from sleepy villages to bustling fishing communities.

It feels like summer here! It was warmer when I landed in Alaska than when I left Boston... imagine that. I've had 4 days of sunny, 70 degree weather with no bugs. They tell me it's not always like this and I have to believe them because otherwise, I think everyone would want to live up here!

I went through bear training on Friday afternoon- learned what to do when I encounter a bear. Early on in an encounter, you have to figure out whether the bear is being defensive or if it is agressively pursuing you, because the reaction differs. A defensive bear will usually lay off (or at least, paw at you, but not maul you) if you back away and make yourself less of a threat. One of my favorite quotes from the training is: "If a bear starts eating your arm, it's not defensive anymore so you should start fighting back." It's basically a certainty that I'll see grizzlies while working or living here. Hopefully, I won't have to shoot one. I started my gun training today... did the classroom part where we loaded and unloaded blanks, took the gun apart, cleaned it, and put it back together. Tomorrow, I go to the shooting range with my shotgun to see how I measure up...

More to come later...